Have a Good Life
by theonlyAnomaly
Summary: Jess lost his chance with Leslie when she died. Now he is going to try again to give her the life that neither of them had.   Rated T for Language LDD.
1. Chapter 1 Hope

Disclaimer: I do not own the story of the Bridge to Terabithia, I do not own the characters, I do not own its plot, I do not own Katherine Paterson, I do not own AnnaSophia Robb and I am most certainly do not own Jesse Aarons.

**No profit was or will be made of this…**

**I would also like to apologize for any other Author whom I may have unintentionally stolen something off of. As for the title, I do not believe that it was copied off of any one or any where because I had came up with it as I was writing as a good thing to say to other people. How ever, there is a possibility that I got the inspiration of the Title from a certain British television show whose name I honestly do no remember.**

**Enjoy!**

**Have a Good Life**

**Or**

**(Do it for me)**

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_Leslie, Where are you?_

_I need you._

_I want to go back; I want to go back to when I had you._

_It is all my fault isn't it?_

_Why wasn't I there for you? I should have been there with you; I should have died with you._

_Please just talk to me Leslie._

_Leslie, I never had the chance to tell you this but… I love you._

He woke up twisting and turning in his bed sheets and realized that it was all a bad dream.

The ceiling was the same old ceiling, white washed and covered with his sketches of a little girl with a beautiful smile. The curtain was the same old curtain, dusty and brown but warm never the less. This was the same house as he has lived in as a boy; this was the same room that he has slept in as a boy. But it is not the same boy that is sleeping on this bed now as the boy who slept there thirteen years ago.

He climbed out of bed and walked to the window, shivering in the cold air as he put on his slippers. Pasting his face upon the cold glass almost as if he hoped it would cool his fevered mind as well.

It was raining outside. It was not rare for it to rain in Virginia but it still brings back all those painful memories. Memories of his childhood, back when he had someone who cared for him as much as he cared for her. She had walked in one morning on the first day of fifth grade and despite everyone's jeers at her high top shoes and weird clothes. She had smiled at all of her class mates; she had smiled at him.

He remembered how he hated her for beating him in the race and he remembered how he would later on come to love that smooth run of hers. The run that neither rain nor mud could tarnish. That run of hers, on the last time they would meet each other. She had merely glided away and his heart nearly stopped when she turned around to wave at him, PT's tongue was hanging out and it almost seemed as if he were saying bye too, and then she was gone, he would never see her again.

_Leslie… run… rope… creek…dead…dead…gone… … she's gone._

He could imagine how it must have been. She jumped onto the mossy log and grasped the rope tightly with PT in her coat. With a smile on her face she jumped and leaned back on it.

Then it snapped. That rope that they had trusted so many times, the rope that had carried then to their hiding place away from all those prying eyes. It snapped. She was falling into the murky waters below and she opened her mouth to scream but her scream was drowned out by the sound of the river.

Something had hit her head and she felt a piercing pain going through the back of her head. She could not breathe, she could not think, she could not move. The water was closing in on her head, pushing and tumbling, dragging her across the branches and stones that covered the bottom of the river.

She was bellow the shimmering surface and bubbles were flowing out of her mouth. But she was not scuba diving any more, there were no beautiful fishes swimming around her, there was no warmth. She was drowning. She did not have any air with her to breathe, she couldn't find the strength to get back up.

She opened her mouth desperately to find some air, but there was none, only water rushed into her mouth, water that choked her, flowed into her nostrils and burned inside her. Her lungs were on fire, her mind was on fire. She couldn't think she could only struggle but no one was coming and she could not get up.

No one was coming to rescue her. Struggling desperately her body thrashed about but even that began to stop. She could no longer feel anything anymore, the cold was leaving, the burning was leaving but the world was also leaving. Darkness was closing in on her. The surface of the water seems to be going further and further away and she knew.

She was dead.

_Why weren't you there for me Jess? Where were you? _Her voice said to him in a hurt and accusing tone, _it's entirely your fault Jess. You weren't there to save me. You weren't there for me._

Jess shook his head to get rid of that voice, _it was all just in my imagination. She's gone now, that was all just in my imagination. _And silently, he cursed his imagination that was both a gift and a curse. It allowed him to see the world as a much more beautiful place than it actually is, but yet it tormented him for every day in the past thirteen years about Leslie's death.

_Was it really my fault? Is she right? Should I have been there for her?_ He thought to himself. He had thought that thirteen years would be enough for him to move on and forget.

He never could forget, something would always bring her back. A head in a crowd, a girl's laugh, a perhaps the way someone was running, and sometimes it was just two little kids playing with each other. All of these things would bring his memory of her back and his heart would ache as it did so many long years ago. He hated every single time it happened, he hated to tear apart the wound that took so long to heal. Yet every single time it happened, he was also happy, he was glad to be able to experience all of those things all over again.

Even though it would hurt him more and more each time after it happens. All of the pain, all of the suffering, none of it matters if he could just see her for one more minute, if he could just hear her for one more minute, if he could just be with her for one more minute. For that one fleeting moment in his memory, she was alive, Leslie was still alive, and he was happy.

_Would I have been happy with her?_

It has been thirteen years since that day Leslie died, by now, Jesse Aarons was twenty five.

He walked over to the leather sofa and the glass coffee table, a new addition to his room now that May Belle has moved out and found her own place. He knew that had enough money by now from his company to buy several new islands but he still stayed in the same house as his parents.

He knew that it would cost almost nothing to him for him to renovate his room but he just couldn't do it. The coffee table, the Sofa, and the flat screen TV was the most he was willing to add to his room but that was only to fill in the emptiness left by his sister's departure.

May Belle, she was his favorite sister and his only friend after Leslie left. She would remind him so much of Leslie every time they went to Terabithia. But she wasn't the same, she did not laugh the same she did not run the same, and she definitely did not imagine it the same way. She was a princess but she was no queen; she was not Leslie but she was the next best thing. When she was old enough to realize the depth of her brother's pain she tried to get him to move on.

May Belle helped him get through college, she helped him start his company, and she helped him get rich. But she just simply could not get Jess to be happy. He just simply could not move on, even though it happened so long ago.

Jesse sat down on the sofa and picked up one of the magazines his only friend had dropped off the last time he came to visit. he read the cover with a snort, it said "Jesse Aarons, richest and youngest billionaire bachelor" he threw the magazine into the trash bin without even taking a look on the inside. But then, seeming as if he thought better of it, he walked over to pick it up again.

_"Page 24_

_…The youngest billionaire in human history, owner of the Humanus Link Corporation, is also one of the few people in this world who really does not have that many friends. Even those who are privileged enough to call Jesse Aarons a friend say that they have barely scratched the surface. His best friend and coworker Christopher Heinrich, a hacker who turned entrepreneur says in a recent interview that when he first met Aarons on the first day of High school, 'That kid was ready to kill himself' and that throughout Aarons' entire freshman year he had seemed to be 'on the wrong page as everyone else, always sketching and writing never talking to anyone else. He would realize that break was over three days after it was over. He turned down all of the girls that asked him to dances. He didn't participate in anything.'_

_Jess Aarons was so utterly eccentric that he was ignored by almost all other students. It wasn't until sophomore year that he made friends with Heinrich and that was because Heinrich brought him a beer one day after school. Starting with that cup of beer, they soon grew to be friends but the most Heinrich was able to figure out about his personal life was that he was, 'Utterly mad, insanely brilliant, a hell of a wasted artist completely heartbroken' As it turns out, the reason why he was so heartbroken was because of an twelve year old girl that he knew in fifth grade who drowned in a tragic accident…"_

_How the hell did they find out about that? Chris would have never told them. That much I know for sure. _Jesse thought to himself, frustrated by the fact that his most precious secret was now public. Finding that he was unable to read that section any further, he scanned the rest of the article for anything else derogatory and no surprise he was able to find one pretty quickly.

"_…Rumors are that despite his brilliance he is really mentally ill and it does seem quite probable after his recent actions in funding the preservation of a particular acre of forest in the middle of nowhere…"_

_They don't know about Terabithia…They don't understand… Leslie would, she helped me create it…Leslie…_

Jesse winced as the effect of saying her name sank in. Each time it was as if his heart was being torn out and ripped to shreds all over again. He felt the coldness sink through his body and consume him but he did not even struggle against it.

Through his eyes the world was a living hell, all those people rushing past him living their pointless lives. _No one truly loved any more, relationships were superficial, family members become mere acquaintances and friend have become tools for personal gain. Everything good in people's lives were being squashed out. People no longer have any imagination, everyone conformed to the myriads of rules set by society and childhood has been shortened if not completely removed from the newer generations. Grades, Drugs, Sex and Alcohol, that is all that matters to any one now days._

_Why do I even bother to put up with this hell anyway? If I died, it would all be over, I could be with Leslie again. _Realizing where his thoughts were taking him, he quickly tried to snap out of it and remind himself why he had not ended his life earlier. _I must live, I have to bring her back, that is my only reason for bearing with all of this and without it everything I have done would have no meaning. Leslie can't die, she just can't. She is the last hope for all of us, she is hope, she is everything in this world that is pure and beautiful, I must bring her back. But how? There is no way of doing it. Traveling back in time is impossible, creating a program with her exact likeness is completely pointless since it would never be exactly like Leslie, cloning her consciousness isn't possible either since she is dead… HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO DO THIS! If there really is a god and if you really are out there then HELP ME!_

In despair, Jesse jumped up and put on his coat. The rain had long stopped so he quietly walked out of the house and ran along the familiar path to that place he cherished.

_Terabithia_

Jesse stopped at the wooden bridge he built after Leslie's death and he automatically walked over to the spot where the rope swing used to be.

_Leslie… I don't know if you can hear me but I want to try this any way… I love you so much, I didn't even know that I loved till you were gone. I can't believe I wasted all that time with you, I never ever even thought of telling you it to you. I just don't know what to do, I know that you would have wanted me to move on but I just simply don't want to do it. You are far too precious to be gone and I am willing to die for you, if it means that you could come back. I would do anything to have you back._

_What would you say to me right now? Probably tell me to keep my mind wide open right? _Jesse thought to himself and grinned. _Wouldn't hurt to try would it?_

Jesse closed his eyes and laid back, letting his mind wander and escape from his body.

He imagined night sky clearer and more beautiful than it actually is and filled it with swirling lights; he imagined the wind, visible in his mind, blowing through the treetops and waking up the sleeping birds; he imagined Terabithia, bathed in moonlight and the sound of laughter in the distance, the outline of the castle was barely visible yet it was so sharp against surrounding darkness. But it really wasn't dark, there were so many colors just simply swirling about and the silent night no longer seemed so lonely. In the distance he heard the familiar jingle from a wind chime and he knew that anything could happen now.

The night was now filled with magic and nothing could restrain his imagination. He was walking across the surface of the stream, sending ripples across the surface but not disturbing anything. On the other shore he could see the trees creaking and moving welcoming their king back to Terabithia, he could hear the whispers in the bushes talking about him but whenever he went to look he could never find the owner of the voice.

Soon he passed the rusted old pickup truck and he reached his castle. It was almost the exact same as he had left it, most of the walls have managed to stay on and the roof was covered with holes of various sizes, everything that he and Leslie had placed in there were still there. The bottles of water, crackers, paints, tools, even his map of Terabithia.

_But Leslie isn't here…_

Jesse felt himself floating up to the tree house and he ignored the part of his mind screaming at him that this can't be happening. He could see shadows running about the tree house and occasionally he would hear a disembodied laugh. Neither of the two shadows scared him, it seemed as if he knew them a long time ago, and that laugh, that beautiful melodious laugh. He can recognize that laugh anywhere, how could he not, after all it was her laugh. It was Leslie's laugh.

_It can't be… Leslie?... Is that you?_

The two shadows chased after each other and he could see that they were leaving him, they were going somewhere. He could not just watch them go so he followed them as they climbed down the rope ladder.

_Where are they going?_

They were running through the woods, they were having a race to somewhere and suddenly, they were gone.

Jesse walked around the place where they disappeared and he suddenly realized where he was, this was Leslie's secret hiding place, this is where she would keep all of her diaries and books and her treasures. He walked over to a clump of bushes knowing that he would find the entrance to her grove there.

He put his hand out to pull aside the leaves but a part of him couldn't help but feel guilty about it. He was violating Leslie's privacy; this is where she kept all of her secrets. Yet the other part of him urged him on, he had to feel her presence, he had to see her, even if it were for just one more time. As he finally parted the leaves he climbed into the dry little hollow.

_…Jess… _it was a whisper, a ghost of a whisper passing by his ear, and all around him he could feel her presence, he could feel Leslie's presence. Jesse picked up one of the books on a makeshift shelf and he quickly flipped through the pages, it was almost as if she were in the book, it was almost as if her presence was stored in the book, it was stored all around him, it was all stored in that hollow. It was Leslie that was stored in that hollow.

He knew that he was onto something but he couldn't quite grasp it. Then he felt the spark in his mind. He felt the spark burst into a flame and it had lighted the string quickly, burning it up and consuming it. He could feel the tension building. He just needed to go that one bit further to find it.

Then the idea hit him like a freight train…

Jess's eyes snapped open and he smiled into the night sky. Even without his imagination it seemed so much more beautiful than it had been before. He could feel the renewed energy that coursed through his veins and once more, there was hope in his world.

_Leslie, I am coming for you…_

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**Thank you all so much for taking the trouble of reading the first chapter of this story. Hope you have all enjoyed it and please, press that review button down bellow and get a chance to win ten bucks, Nah, I was just kidding about that part but go do it any way.**

**The next chapter will have a bit of sci fi in there but that is only to make Leslie's comeback seem more original and plausible.**

**Unfortunately, with track and field, school, SAT classes, Honors classes, AP classes, violin classes, tennis competitions, art contests and other social things in my life, it is going to take me a looongggg while to post the next chapter. Any way, in the mean time, have a good life eh? Do it for me.**

**Sincerely Anomaly,**

**01-09-2011**


	2. Chapter 2 Farewells part 1

Disclaimer: I do not own The Bridge to Terabithia, I do not own Jesse Aarons, I do not own Leslie, I do not own that quote about whether it is better to have loved or to have never loved at all. However I do own Chris Heinrich and all other original characters.

and another thing, I do own all of the content in this chapter (with the above exceptions) and all ideas presented are original ideas. (or at least so I think so myself.)

**Thank you all so much for all of your reviews on my letter to the readers and my first version of chapter 2.**

**This is the second version of chapter 2 and I think that it is much better than the other version which is why I am posting this chapter on line as well.**

**This chapter may not seem drastically different idea wise from the other version but trust me when I say that the chapters following the separate versions were completely different.**

**Also most of the details in this version are completely different so, yes, you might have to read a bit carefully to find most of them.**

**Once again thank you all so much and like always… ENJOY!**

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**Chapter 2 ****Version 2**

**Farewells **

**Part 1**

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Jess had an idea, a daring and impossible idea but he felt that he owed it to Leslie to try it.

He had always wondered whether or not it was his fault that Leslie had died and he knew that no matter what the answer to that may be, had he been there, Leslie might have survived. He could have tried to jump in after the river to save her, maybe he could have prevented her from hitting her head, he might have even been able to prevent her death altogether. No matter how often or for how long Jess ran these scenarios through his mind he knew that they wouldn't change the fact that she had died.

Before he met her, he was so lonely and his heart yearned for its counterpart, but then it found it. He found Leslie. That hole in his life was filled by her presence and he finally felt that his life was perfect. She was always so happy with him and he remembered feeling that if nothing else, his only goal in life would be to be there for her so that she can be happy for the rest of her life.

Then she was torn away by fate, and Jess can never make her happy again. He had always felt that he owed it to her to make her happy which was why that even though he could not move on, he stilled worked so hard to make the rest of the world happy. His companies, his inventions, his donations, all of those were made just so that the rest of the world can be happier. In a way, Jess felt that that was the only way he could make up for not being able to make his Leslie happy. Every moment in Jess's life, every single contribution he ever made to society, every single caring word he gave to others, they were all for Leslie.

He can never regain the chance to make his Leslie, the Leslie that died, happy. He can't prevent her from dying but he can give life to Leslie, he can create a Leslie with her personality with her memories and basically with everything that his Leslie had ever had. He can give the new Leslie the life that neither he nor his Leslie had ever had. Most importantly, he can make this Leslie happy. And that is all that mattered to him in the entire world.

As for how he was going to tackle this impossibility is where his idea comes in. It would be his key to unlock the perfect future for both him and her, and he knew that he was not going to give up.

By this time, Jess was on the road to his office. Jess drove down the empty street and listened to the car as it roared beneath his feet. He had a smile on his face of pure happiness.

_This was no dream_, he thought to himself, _this is for real_. _No one else is going to tell me to let it out or to move on because I no longer need to._

All those things that he had wanted to do with her but never got a chance to do it, he will soon be able to do it. They can go to the beach together, they can go camping together, he can take her to the movies, he can take her out for lunch, and he can even ask her out on a date. He tried to remember what she smelled like and what clothes she used to wear; he tried to remember what date was her birthday and what she used to look like. With all these memories and pictures in his mind he tried to construct an image of her in his head.

In his head Leslie looked just like she had thirteen years ago. She was still wearing her high top Converse shoes and her jacket was tied around her waist. Her beautiful golden hair went only up to her shoulders but still it practically shone in the dim lighting. And when she looked at him, with those beautiful grey eyes of hers Jess felt his heart melt and his mind go crazy.

Very reluctantly, he had to tear his eyes away from hers to look at the road ahead of him. He still had a long way to go, both to the laboratory and to getting Leslie back.

_You are going to have a long time for looking at her later when you are done Jess. You just need to get the job done and then she will be back. You can have Leslie with you again. You can tell her how much you love her; you can tell her how much you care for her. Right now she is still dead and you can only see her in your imagination._

In his car Jesse drove along the highway with an imaginary Leslie sitting next to him. Outside the car window, the sun had just begun to rise and the rays of light seemed glaringly bright through the gaps in between the trees. The light embraced his exposed skin and it spread through him like a wild fire burning away all of those years of pain and heartache. For the first time, he began to notice all of the colors that were splashed about his everyday life. The greens of the trees, the golden fields of dried grass and all of that was illuminated by that bright and warm light.

There was a certain eagerness in having a meaning in life again. Everyone and everything seemed to be filled with vitality. To Jess, a man who has lived for so long without hope, he did not know what bliss meant. And to him, the sudden brighter perspective on life was like a strong deluge that washed away all the mud and dirt that covered him. He didn't know what to do and unexpectedly, he felt himself crying. He certainly was not sad but yet he wasn't truly happy yet.

It was a brand new day, and for him a brand new life. As long as jess can do it right, he can get his second chance to make his life perfect. He can get his chance to make Leslie happy.

-L-

The silver car pulled into the multistory garage and Jess quickly parked his car next to the door that joined the garage to the Link tower. There was no one there; everyone else was either at home asleep or on their way to work. He walked across the deserted lobby to the elevators and impatiently, he waited as the elevator slowly brought him up to his office.

His slim fingers fumbled with the key for a moment and then the lock finally turned and the door opened smoothly.

Sleeping on the floor of his office, was his best friend Chris and beside his inert body was a dozen beer cans that varied through various stages of being crushed and some with its contents not yet fully consumed.

Slightly annoyed by this temporary hindrance, he nudged his friend's face with the toe of his shoe and in response, the man on the floor gave a pained groan. Slowly Chris began waking up and as soon as he did, he began to regret it.

"Why the hell did you wake me up?" Chris asked his friend while massaging his aching head.

"What were you doing in my office?" Jess asked his friend in turn. Chris tried to give Jess an intimidating glare but the most he was able to do was squint his eyes before returning to massaging his head. "There is a reason why you own a house you know, you are supposed to live in it, meaning go home to it each evening and sleep in your own bed."

"Well unlike you, I am not some kind of hermit. I like company and I get lonely in my house. It's just too big and too little noise"

"Then go get yourself a shack right next to a construction site." Jess said to Chris as he walked around his desk and pulled out a big notebook which he flipped open and began writing in.

"Don't act smart with me, you know what I mean." Chris stood up and tried to pick up some of the cans he left. Obviously he was still very disoriented and he only collapsed again as soon as he bent down.

"Well then, go get yourself a girlfriend." Jess continued writing without as much as looking up at his friend.

"They are way too much work, how are you supposed to keep one happy for a week straight is completely beyond me." This time Chris picked up the cans before getting up and he managed to make it to the trash bin without falling.

Jess smiled slightly into his notebook and said, "Maybe you should stop treating them like toys that you can only use once. Find a girl that you really like and try to keep her happy." Pausing for a sec in his writing, Jess thought for a moment then said, "That does not mean getting her completely drunk and ditch her after you two have spent the night. Start by making a friend."

"Well I'll think about it." Chris looked as if he hadn't heard a single word but for him that was a good sign because it meant that he was thinking about something.

"Didn't you once consider being a rock star? You sure have the looks and the talent for it." Jess asked Chris randomly

"Well I once considered being an actor too but obviously I chose neither."

"Well you might as well choose something; you have got to do something with your life."

"Yeah…"

The silence in the room was filled in by the scratching of Jess's pen against the paper while the two friends sat in silence. One was working fervently to get his life back while the other was trying not to think about anything at all.

"So what are you writing? You sure seem more excited than usual. The Jess I know is usually on the verge of jumping off of a cliff practically every day." Chris slowly clambered over to Jess's desk and purposely breathed down his neck while quickly scanning through the lines of cursive writing. "You want to start a new brain computer interface project. I thought we were going to leave the link earpieces alone for a while."

"This isn't a BCI project, this is personal stuff." Jess said matter-of-factly.

"And when did your personal life involve this much bull crap?" Chris said jeeringly although he was thoroughly interested in what his friend was writing down in his note book. "Jess, what the hell in the world are you planning? This is does not have anything to do with any of the company projects."

"I know."

"So what are you doing?" Chris asked Jess while trying to temporarily block out the head ache.

"I am… trying to find something that I lost."

Apparently, Chris had already had this conversation with Jess and all he did was groan before saying, "Her? No her again, not Leslie. Seriously? What is the matter with you?"

"Shut up…"

" She is dead Jess, she has been DEAD for the past thirteen years, just get a move on for god sake! There are plenty of other fish in the pond."

"Shut up!"

"She is just another dead no body, if everyone cared that much about every child that ever died then we would have all suicided by now…"

"SHUT UP!" Jess jumped up and glared at Chris who was beginning to look slightly guilty. Chris tried to hide his emotions by turning around and sitting down on one of the leather sofas in the room.

"Fine! ... then tell me why. Why are you so hung up about her? Why is she so special to you that you would try over and over again so many different times to bring her back to life? What is so important about this Leslie?" Chris finally asked Jess after a few moments of silence.

The tension between the two friends finally broke down and Jess sat down again in his chair. His eyes were filled with sadness beyond measure and he took a deep breath to begin explaining. "She was… she meant to me, everything in life that was good… She was hope and dreams and everything pure and beautiful… She took me when I was lost and unsure of myself and she turned me into a king. She turned me into a person who had a mind and an imagination. She was the one who breathed life into me and showed me how beautiful everything was…" Chris turned his face towards one of the walls on which he had pasted hundreds of drawing of Terabithia and Leslie. "I never realized how beautiful everything was when I had her. I took her for granted and now that she is gone I realize that I treasure even the most boring moments that I have had with her… They were not truly boring now that I think of it… they were the happiest times of my life..."

Chris stared at the pictures on the wall for a few more moments before addressing his friend, "Then she left."

"Yes she did…" Jess's vision was blurred by the tears that were collecting in his eyes and he quickly wiped them away.

"She took with her everything good in you. You do realize that right." Now Chris began to sound truly sorry for Jess.

"Yes…"Chris picked up one of the papers on the floor and began drawing. His smooth hand stroked the surface of the paper with his pencil and left an outline of a person.

"Then why do you still love her?" Chris understood that Jess had lost something in him when he had lost Leslie. For once in his life, not only did he pity Jess, he also wanted to help him. Chris wanted to help Jess so that he could be happy and somehow, he felt that if Jess could be happy, there was a chance for everyone to be happy as well.

"Is it better to have never loved, or to have loved and had your heart broken." Jess quoted the saying off of the top of his head. He wasn't quite saying it to himself, but he wasn't answering Chris's question with a question either.

Chris walked across the room back to Jess's desk and picked up the notebook that Jess was writing in since Jess was occupied with his drawing for the time being. Jess has always been different from other people and his handwriting was just another example. Other people chose to type or write in block letters while Chris prefers to write in cursive. It wasn't that he was bad at it either because his cursive was absolutely beautiful. Chris knew that Jess's handwriting was not always that great, as a matter of fact, judging from some of the writing Jess had wrote as a kid, Jess's handwriting was absolutely awful. His hand writing was just another thing that that girl had left with him, along with a great deal of other things.

"So what do you plan to do about it Jess? She is dead, there is no way that we can bring her back to life. That is just not possible." Chris had finished reading what Jess had written and honestly he had no idea what any of it meant.

"I know I can't bring her back to life, but what I can do is give her life." Jess said as he finished sketching out some of the stray strands of hair and revealed a young girl sitting on what appeared to be a tree branch.

"How will you do that?" Chris put the note book down and picked up a bottle of water from the closet to sooth his parched lips.

"I have her DNA. I could have always reconstructed her." Jess answered calmly as he sketched another person next to the little girl with the shoulder length hair.

"Jess, that is the equivalent of cloning and there is a reason why cloning was outlawed by the united nation." Chris took another draught of water before pouring the entire bottle on his face, letting the cold water stream into his shirt and splatter against the carpeted floor.

"That is because they are worried about the moral and ethical implications, but I have no evil intentions in bringing her back to life."

"Okay let's say that they do let you, how in the world are you going to make her Leslie, the constructed girl will be completely mindless, she will be nothing more than an empty shell!"

"Have you ever heard people say that someone lives on in their heart."

"Yes but…"

"Why can't they?"

"Because your heart isn't a digital camera, it doesn't take pictures of people and store their entire entity in its memory. It doesn't matter how well you might know them either, it just simply doesn't work like that…"

"Your heart doesn't but your mind does."

"Oh…" Chris stopped mopping his face and stared at Jess with a look of disbelief and mixed excitement. "I see where you are going with this."

"If, you have all of these memories about a person, why can't you construct their personality from all of those memories?" the two friends said simultaneously.

"That I have to say is bloody brilliant!" Chris exclaimed with a wide smile on his face, "We have got everything we need here, the lab the equipment and even a super computer powerful enough to construct a couple of separate entities."

Jess was still drawing his picture while Chris smiled like a kid who just got a new toy to play with for Christmas. But then his smile faltered for a moment and turned into a more wistful grin. "Just one other question, Jess, How will you two get together? She was twelve when she died and you are what? Twenty three now?"

Jess stopped drawing and looked up realizing that in his excitement of being able to bring Leslie back, he had forgotten how much older he had gotten while she was dead."That is a question that I don't know the answer to yet."

"Well you might want to come up with something. We can't artificially age her and she can never catch up with you either. She will always be twenty three years younger than you. And…"

"There is a way." Jess interrupted Chris and placed his paper on the desk."There is a way that would make everything so much simpler."

"Well then what is it?" Seeing that Jess wanted his notebook back he set it down on the desk.

Jess opened the notebook and picked up his pen, "I can recreate myself as the same age as Leslie if I assimilate with the computer. Once I have been downloaded into the computer's hard drive it would be a piece of cake separating me into three different entities. One myself as I am right now, one as a younger version of myself, and another as Leslie based off of my memories of her. It's perfect!"

"What are you taking about Chris?" Chris was obviously not quite as happy about the idea of having his best friend in a computer, "You would be ripping yourself from your body!"

"Yep"

"You can't do that Jess!"

"Why not?"

"Because you will die! The Jess sitting in front of me will die! Transfer of consciousness means complete removal of yourself from your body and it is a one way trip with no return! YOU CAN NOT LIVE IN A HARD DRIVE!" Chris was no longer his usual flamboyant self. Instead he was greatly disturbed by his friend's willingness to end himself.

"Yes, this Jess will die, but my mind will merely be contained in a computer instead of a body composed of flesh and bones" Jess explained as if it were a lesson he was giving. He neither seemed disturbed or sad, instead he even seemed slightly ecstatic. His hand moved across the blank paper in fluid motions and beneath his steady hand, a forest began to take shape. "This way it would even be simpler, now we wouldn't have to create artificial emotions for Leslie, or an artificial imagination. And like you said earlier, this way we can be together."

"Jess. That would still be like self murder. Think of all the people that would be pained by your disappearance. Stay with us for their sake if not for yourself. The world needs you. You are the most innovative inventor of the century and there is so much more that you could give the world."

"Chris. For most of my entire life, I have spent it trying to everyone else happy for her sake. But now I can make her happy and I think it is time for the world to cut us some slack in return and let us do something with our lives that would make us happy." Jess stood up from his drawing and walked over to Chris. "And anyways, the recreated version of Jess would still be capable of continuing what I have started. After all we are the same except for my experiences. He still has all of my potential. I will also be there, just that I will be in a computer."

"But yet he won't be the Jess I know, he won't be the Jess that was my friend." Chris said to Jess as the two sat down on the desk.

"Which is why I have just decided to make you their god father Chris." Jess smiled in a resigned manner and continued, "I can program the computer to guide them and fill their minds with the memories that they should have, when the time comes that Leslie doesn't die and their memories of the time together ends, the computer can invent scenarios to create new memories for them. However, when their consciousness reaches the age of twelve they must be woken up by someone here or else their minds and their bodies would not be in synch. Also, when everything is complete and they are ready to be introduced to this world they will need someone to guide then and be their friend someone who is also composed of flesh and blood. You can be there for us... for them..."

"Why can't you let the younger version of yourself keep all of your memories? What difference does it make? You don't have to recreate yourself."

"Yes I do Chris. For half of my entire life I have lived in pain and despair and I know that if I do get a second chance, all of my sadness from her death before will only tarnish my love for Leslie with guilt. Yet if I recreate myself in a younger form I can be a brand new person and he can live without the guilt or the pain and love freely. Only he can truly be happy while making Leslie happy." Jess picked up his drawing and when Chris looked at it. Chris saw that the blank sheet of paper has been transformed into an image of a beautiful forest with a castle in the distance.

"No matter what I say or do, you wouldn't change your mind would you?" Chris stood up and walked to the door way of the office.

"I am afraid not." Jess said with an almost sad grin on his face. "And any ways I have still got a few more years left till the project is ready so till then I guess I'll just make the best of the time I've got eh?"

Chris ignored that comment and walked out the door but then he stopped and walked back in, "Just answer me one last question Jess. How are you going to explain to the rest of the world what you are about to do. How am I supposed to explain it to Leslie and yourself when I wake them up?"

"That, I honestly do not know." Jess walked back behind his desk and sat down to finish his second drawing. " For now I just want her back. I just simply want to tell her that I love her. I just want her to have a life."

Jess looked up at his best friend imploringly, asking Chris with his eyes to forgive him.

"Who ever this Leslie is, she must be a hell of a person to have you so torn up." With that, Chris walked out the room and strolled down the hallway to his own office...

**To be continued in Part 2 of Chapter 2**


	3. Chapter 2 Farewells part 2

**Chapter 2 part 2 Farewells**

**-ten years later-**

Jess grabbed a metal briefcase out of the hall and walked across the semi crowded lobby to the elevator room.

He felt scared walking among this many people even though he was not usually so, but then considering what he was about to do, he has ample reasons to feel scared. Everyone around him waved or nodded at him but he ignored them all and tried to avoid making eye contact with all of them.

A strange sensation swept through him leaving behind a wave of numbness and a tingly feeling. Jess waited for the elevator door to open and he stepped to the side as a wave of people rushed out. He walked into the now deserted elevator and pressed the familiar button that lead to the basement. His eyes focused on the flashing number indicators and he waited for the elevator to reach its destination.

His arms were limp against his side and he could feel his knees wobbling. He closed his eyes for a moment to try to calm himself but seeing that it wasn't working he opened them again. There were still a dozen floors to go and to him that could have been a thousand miles away.

His hands were sweaty and to avoid dropping the briefcase he held onto it tighter. His breathing became sporadic and uneven and in his mind he knew that this was fear. He feared what awaits him after he was done.

Although it has been seventeen years since he has last went to church or even believed in God Jess prayed to God now for no other reason than because he was afraid and scared. Part of him did not want to do this and it struggled desperately against every single mental restraint that he had been placed by his mind.

"Ding!"

Jess jumped as he heard the sound of the elevator reaching its destination and as the doors slowly opened, Jess walked down the familiar corridor that lead to the computer lab. He noticed for the first time how strikingly white the paint was on the walls and the ceiling of the corridor. The bright florescent lamps on the ceiling only made everything brighter and revealed every single detail on the walls, even the smallest bumps and the slightest scratch were thrown into fine detail by the un-forgivingly bright light that washed over the entire hall way.

_Bubump, bubump, bubump, bubumb…_

In his chest, his heart was not any more forgiving either. It seemed to have only increased its speed and sound to protest Jess's decision and it echoed in harmony with the repetitious clatter of his footsteps. Every single noise was magnified both by the enclosed space of the corridor and the nervousness that Jess felt. All of it condensed into one single distracting wail that shrieked through his head, blocking out all thoughts and emotions other than fear.

Finally, he reached the end of the corridor. He put out his hand to push in the metal bar on the thick heavy double doors.

The doors swung open and Jess walked into the dimly lit room that was lighted only by a few computer screens, a couple desk lamps and a green glow that emanated from what looked like two horizontally placed cylindrical fish tanks on the floor.

Seeing the two tanks, he let out a breath that he had been holding in the whole time and dropped his briefcase on the floor without a care for its contents. He rushed forward towards the end of the tank on his right and placed his hand on the metal rim staring at the inert body suspended by the clear liquid in the tank.

Bubbles were flowing out of the girl's mouth, and like many small jelly fishes, they swam to the top of the tank, chasing after one another, tumbling across the inside of the glass.

Her face was lit by a tiny lamp in the tank and judging from her expression, she could have been sleeping had it not been for the fact that she was connected to hundreds of wires that were attached to both her head and her body.

Her beautiful golden hair bellowed around her head inside the confined space of the tank and her entire body was completely relaxed. Each strand of her hair gleamed in the light and it was as if her head was covered with golden light instead of hair.

She was not clothed in anything but yet clothing would have only soiled her beauty. Her smooth and fair skin was untouched by neither nature nor hardship. She was only a little a girl, no older than eleven. There was no need for her to be covered for who could think any impure thoughts when she was the very image of innocence.

She had on her face a small smile that seems to be saying that she was having a beautiful dream, and her audience, comprised one worn and tired young man, could not help but wonder what she could possibly be dreaming of that would bring her such mirth. Whatever it is, it must be absolutely fantastic. _Perhaps she was dreaming of flying, she always had been fascinated with flying when we were young._ The young man thought as he sat there silently watching the little girl. _What are you dreaming of my darling?_

All of his fear was gone, all of his worries and all of his nervousness simply dissipated with the sight of the girl.

He walked over to the glass tank and ran his hand along one of the two ends where her head laid. He stopped walking and leaned over to stare at her face even though it was upside down since he was standing at the far end of the tank. Transfixed by the sight of that familiar face he had known so well, his face inched down lower and lower until his breath began to fog up the glass that separated her from him.

How fortunate she was, to be sleeping on her bed of water without any worries or any fears. The world is such a cruel place and he couldn't help but feel protective of her. He can't let the darkness of reality stain her purity. Her life must be absolutely perfect. She must have the life that neither she nor he, had ever had.

His hand crept up to touch her face but of course there was the curved glass plane in between. He smiled at his own foolishness but he simply pretended that it was her face that he was touching. _Would I ever get to actually touch that face again?_

He leaned over further more and closed the remaining distance between him and the glass. Hesitantly and cautiously he planted a quick kiss on the glass covering her face.

The cold glass was like a reminder of reality, cold and hard. He stood up again and tearing his eyes away from the girl, he walked over to the other tank

The second tank was exactly identical to the one that held Leslie except for the fact that it did not hold another Leslie. For that matter it did not even hold a girl. Inside the glass was a boy, a boy who looked as if he were the exact same age as his companion in the other tank.

The boy had a head of unruly dark black brown hair that seemed to be slightly parted to the left. He was well built, not exactly too thin to be gangly but not chubby either. He was neither small nor short, but perfectly sized for his age. The boy had a melancholy look to him but yet in his young futures, there was hope written all over his face.

"Hello" The older man whispered to the unresponsive boy. And as he stared at that boy's face, his face became filled with envy. What wouldn't he give to be in the boy's place, but that so happens to be the exact thing that he was about to do.

The older man walked away from the tank and over to his chair again, this time he sat down with deliberate slowness. It seemed as if he was relishing the action of sitting down and he performed the action with such a formality that he could have been a convict, enjoying his last meal.

Once again he could feel the fear creeping through his body and clouding up his mind.

He tried to remember the reason why he was doing this but yet his mind was a confused muddle. Ever thing seemed so distant and unrealistic, almost as if it were an experience from a dream or perchance a dream of a dream. He felt his gut tighten up and a sick sensation in his stomach. His eyes focused on his hands and he noticed that not only were the sweaty, they were also shaking uncontrollably.

_I don't know! I don't know what to do… why now? Why did I even bring this upon myself?_

But then like the first ray of light after a rain, a single word pierced through his head.

_Leslie._

He could feel his breathing calm again and he could feel his mind becoming clearer. Just like he did five years ago on his way to the office he tried to form a picture of Leslie in his mind and watched as the picture began to move.

In his mind he felt the figment of Leslie smile again and she placed her hand on his arm understandingly, almost as if she knew what Jess was going to do next. Jess could not see her hand on his arm but yet he felt the warmth that that touch emanated and unconsciously his arm began trembling. The trembling spread through his entire body and soon he was shaking. He had not experienced that emotion for so long and now both his mind and his body are confused as to how he should respond to it.

Jess glanced towards the imaginary Leslie for a brief moment and mouthed, "I love you" before opening his eyes again.

He was happy that he could finally bring Leslie to life, but yet he was scared of losing his own. No matter how he convinced himself, he knew that being a part of the computer would not be a pleasant experience.

_Leslie… is this how you felt when you were going to die. Did you know you were going to die when the rope broke?_

He rung his hands and stared at the rectangular metal chair that was on the other side of the room, next to the shelves of hardware that made up the supercomputer.

_Does it hurt? Did you feel anything? What is there after you die Leslie?..._

In his mind the image of Leslie smiled at him wistfully but did not answer his questions.

_I don't want to go Les… there is just so much I can still do… I don't want…wan…want to go Les…_

Jess cried like a child and he felt no inhibitions as the tears streaked down his cheek. At first his sobs came out in fits and he struggled to hold them in, but then he could hold then back no longer and he curled up into a ball in his chair and shook as the tears came pouring out of his eyes. No matter how hard he cried, he did not make a single sound, he couldn't make a single sound.

_Help me Les… I am so scared…_

Jess stood up and he began to walk slowly towards the metal chair. Each step seemed to be harder to take and his muscular legs felt like jell-o beneath him.

_Will I go to hell for this…_

Jess forced himself to move his right leg forward.

_Forgive me… please, forgive me…_

His left foot stumbled forward another step.

_Leslie, will you be there for me…_

His feet were beginning to feel numb and he could no longer feel the floor.

_I am so scared Les…_

He could feel his legs give away beneath him but fortunately he was able to lean on the armrest of the chair.

_Les… Les… Les…_

He turned around slowly and collapsed into the hard steel chair.

_I am so sorry… for everything Les…_

Metal clamps extended from the chair and locked his head, his wrists, and his ankles into position. The cold steel stung against his flesh but he barely felt the pain.

_But I don't want to go… I want to be with you Les…_

His entire body tensed up and he reached forward with his hand, his index finger touched the smooth round button at the end of the armrest and he knew all he needed to do was to press that button.

Jess saw Leslie standing in front of him, it was merely a hallucination but yet in his fevered state it almost seemed real.

_Les… I am doing this for you… please, tell them to have a good life alright, tell them to be happy, for our sake…_

The hallucination of Leslie bent down and stroked Jess's cheek where moments before had been streaked with tears.

Jess trembled under Leslie's imaginary touch and he struggled against the steel harnesses to be able to reach out and touch Leslie too.

_I am so sorry, I am so sorry for everything, I am so sorry that I couldn't be there to save you, I am so sorry for being a pig and going with Ms. Edmunds alone... I am so sorry for not being able to make you happy... I am so sorry... for everything._

The hallucination of Leslie smiled sadly and mouthed to three words to Jess.

_I... forgive... you..._

Leslie cupped Jess's face in her hands and she smiled at him. Jess knew that it was time for him to do it

His finger pressed down on the hard plastic button and the world exploded before his eyes.

_I… Love… You… Les..._

Then, everything went crazy, all of the colors became distorted and he began to hear voices from his past memories. His vision was blurred and and his eyeballs burned in its sockets.

It felt as if someone was peeling his skin off with a kitchen knife and soon he could no longer feel his feet at all. Every single tendon and muscle felt like they were being stretched to the limit before being ripped off and Jess could only scream in agony. He could not feel his legs and he shook his torso desperately to try to make them move even though it was completely useless.

Jess instinctively tried to get out of the chair but the metal harnesses held him back and he was only able to struggle against them for a few seconds before falling back down again.

In his chair, Jess thrashed about for the next five minutes suffering and enduring the unimaginable pain that neither ceased nor waned. He opened his mouth and bellowed a deep and guttural scream of agony but all he got as a response was a burning throat. He was in a basement a few hundred feet below the ground. There was no one there to hear him, there was no one there to see him, there was no one there to help him.

Jess was going to die alone. Just as Leslie had. There was no one who could save him or even keep him company. No one could do nothing for him.

Every inch of his body felt like it was being burned and his mind was being ripped out of his body. It felt like every single hair on his body was being burnt to cinders, every single bit of skin was burnt to a crisp. He longed to scratch the burning skin but his hands were still tied down by the metal restraints.

Sweat was pouring out of all of his pours and tears streamed down his face.

His eyes rolled to the ceiling as all of his memories were being torn out of him. In his head he had to relive the entire twenty three years of Loneliness without Leslie and without a meaning to life.

Jess saw the time when his sister Brenda died in a car accident.

He saw the time when May Belle announced to the family that she was getting married.

He saw himself giving a speech at the Cambridge University telling the students to treasure each and every single moment of their lives, even the boring ones.

He saw the time he met that one little girl in that park, she was so much like Leslie...

Jess could feel his childhood memories slipping away. All of those times in high school, playing with May belle in Terabithia, mourning Leslie's death and his fear of the dark master. The dark master, Jess never figured out what or who he was, all he knew was that it was a part of him. It was everything in him that was greedy, evil, stingy and mean.

He saw Leslie... she was running in the rain, carrying PT in his coat...

He saw Leslie as she was building the castle.

He saw the fear in her beautiful eyes as Leslie was going into the bathroom to talk to Janice...

He felt his memories of Leslie slipping away and there was nothing he can do about it.

Jess could no longer remember his name or who he is. He could no longer even remember what pain meant. All he could do is sit there and wait dumbly until it was all over.

He was losing all of his memories, and slowly he lost his personality as well. By this point he was no longer Jess, he wasn't even human any more. Jess had become nothing more than a dumb animal, struggling desperately against death's relentless grasp. Then, in his point of view, everything went dark and there was nothing, nothing at all. The world was gone, and so was Jesse Oliver Aarons.

Jess's body was still shaking and seizing against the metal harnesses but soon it began to catch up with his mind and it was shutting down as well. His accelerated heart beat slowed to the point where it practically ceased to beat but yet it did not stop, it kept on beating stubbornly, even though the body had become nothing more than an empty shell and there was no more reason for it to continue beating.

In his chest his heart was still struggling against the slowly approaching death but now there was no brain telling it how to beat. Unable to do anything, Jess's heart beat one last bubump before it too became silent.

Jess dies.

The room was completely quite once more; there was no sound what so ever. Jess's body had ceased to struggle…

"Click" it started with that one click and suddenly the sound of computers turning on could be heard throughout the room. Where there was previously darkness, there were now even more shelves of hardware and every single one of them were whirling into life. Lights were flashing and blinking and the sound of machinery operating became steadier as the computer finished turning on.

In the metal chair that sat in the center of all this machinery was a boy who had grown into a man. A little boy who fell in love with a little girl. A boy who never stopped grieving the loss of his heart's only counterpart.

His body was dead and his mind was gone. This Jess's adventure is over.

However, behind Jess's dead body, in the massive processing core of the super computer behind him, two new entities were being constructed; two fresh minds that are only about to begin their adventure.

One was a little girl named Leslie Burke, and the other was a boy called Jesse Aarons...

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**Well ladies and gentlemen that was the second version of the second chapter and I hope that you have all enjoyed it.**

**I am sure that all of you are wondering. What happened to Chris? What will happen to Leslie? What will happen to the twelve year old Jess?**

**Well, if you press the review button down below I promise I shall tell you what happens next in the next chapter.**

**By the way, as always, review and favorite, and please tell me what you think of this chapter.**

**In the mean time while you guys are waiting for the next chapter, please spread the word about this story, as a writer, it is always satisfying to see that a lot of people like your story.**

**Oh yeah and another thing, have a good life eh? For both Jess and I, do it for us. : )**

**Anomaly**

**1-22-11**


	4. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own the novel or its characters. But the characters are merely titles to my own figments.**

* * *

**Have a good life**

**Chapter 3 **

**Life?**

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Video diary code-200003053

Date: 12-09-2023

Subject: Jesse Aarons Jr.

Start of recording:

_Life. _

_ What is a life but a dream? We come, we go, and we forget._

_ Is not a dream, a life? Each new dream gives birth to someone brand new but by the end of the dream that someone dies and we all still forget. _

_ So what is the difference between life and dream if there is no difference?_

_ But there is a difference._

_ Life is not about you; if it were than it would be no different from a dream. Life is so special is all because it is for others that you live. You live so that you die knowing that everyone around you and including you, have had a hell of a ride with you along the way._

_ I have wasted far too much time when I had Leslie with me, and now that she is no longer here, what does it matter for me to live for others._

_ They must remember this. They must remember that I gave my life to them so that they can make each other and everyone else happy; I gave my life so that Jess can get the second chance to make Leslie happy._

_ We live for others but we die alone._

_ I go to die for you Les._

End of recording…

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**While I am working on the next chapter, I have decided to post a little intermission in between chapter 2 and 4 explaining why Jess chose to end his life in order to give life to a new Jess and Les. This is not a full chapter but a mere transition.**

**As always, enjoy, cheers, have a cup of tea or go outside. The weather in California is lovely this time of the year with the constant rainstorms so go have yourself a hell of good life.**

**theonlyAnomaly**

**2-19-11**


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